Author: Casino Connection Staff

See updated article: Connecticut Tribes Say BIA Illegally Blocked Casino

Steve Wynn was the target of an explosive article published last week in the Wall Street Journal that alleged a pattern of sexual abuse of women during his time leading Wynn Resorts and Mirage Resorts. The WSJ reported that “dozens” of women recounted encounters with Wynn where he made unwanted sexual advances.

In the article a manicurist charged that Wynn forced her to have sex with him in his office in 2005, and later received a $7.5 million settlement.

Wynn responded in statement, saying, “The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous.”

“We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits. It is deplorable for anyone to find themselves in this situation.”

Wynn blamed his ex-wife for the allegations.

“The instigation of these accusations is the continued work of my ex-wife Elaine Wynn, with whom I am involved in a terrible and nasty lawsuit in which she is seeking a revised divorce settlement.”

Elaine Wynn has refused to comment on the matter.

Despite his denials, Wynn later resigned as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, a decision supported by his friend, President Donald Trump. Wynn was enormously successful in that position, raising millions of dollars for the party.

Wynn said he remained focused on the company, its employees and its shareholders.

One group demanded his resignation from both Wynn Resorts and the RNC.

“Steve Wynn needs to go,” said Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy organization. “He is a predator of the worst kind who used his position of power to sexually coerce his female employees. It is sadly no surprise that he keeps company with people like Donald Trump—a man who follows the same playbook of sexual abuse. The board of Wynn Resorts must prove that it stands against sexual assault and with survivors, and take immediate action to remove Steve Wynn from the company.”

The hand-picked board of Wynn Resorts has set up a special committee to investigate the charges. The committee will be led by Patricia Mulroy, a former member of the Nevada Gaming Commission, and the only female member of the Wynn board.

Several gaming regulatory bodies, including Nevada’s Gaming Control Board and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, have said they are “aware” of the charges and are reviewing them. Wynn must still be licensed in Massachusetts before his Wynn Boston Harbor in Everett debuts in 2019.

The WSJ article and its reaction distracted from stellar fourth-quarter results and expansion plans for Wynn Resorts, outlined just days before publication.

Wynn Resorts says it plans to fast-track construction of a new hotel on the 38 acres the company acquired in December across Las Vegas Boulevard from its Wynn Las Vegas and Encore resorts.

Plans call for a 2,000-3,000-room property on the land, once the location of the New Frontier and more recently the site of James Packer’s abortive Alon megaresort.

Wynn West, as it’s called, will connect to the Beach Club outside Encore and Wynn Las Vegas via an “air conditioned umbilical hallway” that will run over the Strip, Steve Wynn told analysts participating in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. He said the necessary infrastructure outside the Beach Club is already in place because he knew he would eventually buy the Alon site.

“What we are going to do across the street is going to go rather quickly because I have been giving it thought for a long time,” he explained. “I don’t think the design and development period is going to be very long,” he added, saying he expects to complete Wynn West, together with the much-anticipated Paradise Park, “in three years or so”.

The announcement, Wynn’s first regarding the purchase, came as a surprise to Wall Street, which had expected the company to sit on the parcel until it deemed market conditions to be ideal.

As for Paradise Park―which includes a 1,500-room hotel located between the existing Wynn and Encore towers together with convention and meetings space and a 1,600-foot lagoon surrounded by a pedestrian promenade and a white sand beach―construction is well under way.

“I am going to get those damn buildings up as fast as I can because I want to capture more of the absolutely inevitable visitor and tourist traffic that Las Vegas will experience in the next 15 to 20 years,” Wynn said.

With the completion of Paradise Park and Wynn West, the company will have 8,000 of Southern Nevada’s 160,000 hotel rooms, surrounded by 6 million square feet of meeting space and capable ultimately of commanding rates of $400 to $500 a night. Wynn said he hoped to have renderings for all his Las Vegas projects in the next four to five months.

The quarter was a strong one for Wynn, largely on a continuing resurgence in the Macau market, where the company derives more than 60 percent of its total revenues. Eighteen months since its debut on Cotai, Wynn Palace is now generating about $4 million of operating revenue a day, the company reported, and Wynn said he expects it will “blow past” an earlier forecast of $630 million in EBITDA.

In response, the company plans to expand the resort and work has already started on its design, Wynn said.

“The Macau market is still only touching a tiny percentage of the potential market that is there,’’ he said on the call. “Do not bet against Macau. You will be losing your money.”

Wynn also said he would share the largesse with employees by raising wages or giving bonuses. He did not go into details.

But the catalyst for the improved results in the fourth quarter was the Macau performance.

Feeling buoyant about the results, Wynn says he is planning to expand his $4.2 billion Wynn Palace, which opened in August 2016, on 11 acres in Macau.

“The depth and the foundational strength of that market is real,” Wynn said. “We’ve been encouraged by the government in conversations with them to file our plans for Phase II, which we’re working on now.” He was alluding to Wynn’s gaming concession, which expires in 2020 and is subject to renewal by the Macau government.

“We enjoy a good deal of confidence and we have been given reason to have confidence that our businesses will continue after the initial concession expiration date,” he said. “That confidence is based upon the kinds of conversations we have with the government.”

JPMorgan raised Wynn Macau’s earnings estimate by 7 percent for 2018, analyst DS Kim said in a note cited by the Macau Daily Times.

Despite this, shares in Wynn Resorts Ltd. have tumbled following the sexual-misconduct allegations, and only time will tell if or when they might rebound.

Pieces of the exterior façade of the closed Atlantic Club casino in Atlantic City have reportedly been falling from the building onto Pacific Avenue sidewalks.

The reports have prompted an investigation by city building officials.

Dale Finch, director of licensing and inspections for the resort told the Press of Atlantic City that he has been made aware of the report and was sending an inspector to the site.

“I heard about it and spoke with the owners,” Finch said Wednesday. “They’re going to go to see what exactly is occurring, and I will follow up with an inspector.”

If the vacant building’s facade is crumbling, the city would issue a notice to the owners to have it repaired, Finch said. This new report comes after a September incident when a large portion of the ceiling above the building’s covered entrance collapsed.

The Atlantic Club was built in 1980 by casino mogul and was once considered one of the city’s highest end properties. But it has sat vacant since closing four years ago.

TJM Properties, based in Clearwater, Florida, purchased the Atlantic Club from an affiliate of Caesars Entertainment Corp. in May 2014 for $13.5 million. The company did not comment on the report.

Atlantic City casinos, once again buoyed by strong online gambling revenue, saw their second straight year of revenue increase in 2017 winning $2.66 billion from gamblers.

The $2.66 billion brought in by the seven casinos is a 2.2 percent increase over 2016, according to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Most of the increase can be traced to a 25 percent increase in online gaming revenue, which was at $225 million for the year.

Land-based revenue, however, was also up 0.3 percent over 2016, the first time since 2006 the city reported a yearly increase.

“Every single casino won more, and every internet operation reported increased win last year,” said James Plousis, the new chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. “Total internet win had its fourth straight year of double-digit increases. It shows an industry that is getting stronger and healthier and well-positioned for the future.”

The Borgata casino continues to lead the market and won more than $800 million from gamblers last year. Its winnings were up 4.4 percent over last year, according to an analysis by the Associated Press.

The Tropicana, which almost closed in 2007, is now the No. 2 casino in the market bringing in $390 million, an increase of 14.6 percent.

Harrah’s was next at $363 million, an increase of 1.6 percent, followed by Caesars at $325 million (up 7.6 percent); the Golden Nugget at $288 million (up 14.4 percent); Bally’s at $211 million (up 0.1 percent); and Resorts at $190 million (up 10 percent), according to the AP.

The Golden Nugget finished first in internet gambling revenue with $68.5 million. The Borgata, Caesars Interactive-NJ, Resorts Digital and Tropicana had online revenue ranging from $42.5 to $48.5 million.

The report also showed that casino revenue for the month of December 2017 was down by 0.5 percent to $206.9 million, the AP reported. The decline was attributed to lower win at gaming tables where revenue was off 8 percent to $53.8 million.

Spirit Airlines will add nonstop service out of Atlantic City International Airport to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport starting April 13.

Spirit will operate four flights per week between the two destinations.

“We are excited Spirit Airlines is adding nonstop service between Atlantic City and New Orleans, a premier destination known for its culture, cuisine, jazz music and Mardi Gras,” said Airport Director, Tim Kroll in a press release. “This year-round route is another result of the strong partnership between Spirit Airlines and the Atlantic City International Airport. Together, we are dedicated to promoting the convenience of our facility.”

Spirit has been providing flights from South Jersey for more than 27 years. They currently operate 10 flights a day to six cities including Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach. On April 12, the airlines will resume daily seasonal flights to Atlanta, the release said.

Florida-based developer Glenn Straub—who just sold the former Revel casino in Atlantic City—says he still wants to play a major role in redeveloping the resort where he owns more than 60 properties through his company Polo North Inc.

Straub owns 43 of those properties in the city’s South Inlet section where the Revel is located. The developer told the local Press of Atlantic City he wants to be named as the official redevelopment agent for the area.

“Even after the sale, Polo North is still the largest non-casino property owner on the Boardwalk,” Straub told the paper. “We will move forward and be a spark for catalyzing positive economic movement in Atlantic City.”

According to state property records, Polo North does own 43 properties in the Inlet with one of the largest being a nearly acre-sized parcel near the Boardwalk on Rhode Island Avenue. Straub purchased the open lot, once valued at $2.8 million, for $367,430 in April 2015, according to the Press report.

Straub recently sold Revel to AC Ocean Walk, a group led by Colorado-based investor Bruce Deifik, for $200 million. Deifik has said he hopes to re-open the property this summer as the Ocean Resort Casino. Straub paid $82 million for the casino out of bankruptcy in 2015.

Though Straub had a long, torturous experience trying to re-open at least parts of the casino—which never happened—he said he still envisions big things for that area of the city’s Boardwalk. The area has already seen a major extension of the city’s Boardwalk into the northern inlet of the city and will see both the Ocean resort and the planned Hard Rock casino—on the site of the former Trump Taj Mahal—open this summer. A residential project called The Beach at South Inlet is also expected to open soon.

“This used to be the end of the Boardwalk, now it’s in the middle,” Straub said. “This is one of three areas that we want to clean up.”

Straub said he will ask the city to name him the redeveloper for the area, which could allow him to use imminent domain proceedings to acquire other properties.

However, city officials didn’t sound too interested in naming a redevelopment agent for the area.

Council President Marty Small said he has not spoken to Straub about the redevelopment of the area.

“We are not going to name anyone,” City Council President Marty Small told the paper. “If people are interested in development in the city, they are going to have to go through a process. It has nothing to do with Glenn Straub.”

Straub, on the other hand, has also talked about purchasing the city’s Boardwalk Hall entertainment venue and its former municipal airport Bader Field.

In a related story, Hard Rock International recently posted advertisements saying it wants to rehire former Taj Mahal workers as it closes in on re-opening the refurbished property. The company is looking for former Taj employees who were employed at least 30 days before the property closed in October 2016.

Job opportunities include positions in food and beverage, hotel operation, table games, slot operations, cage operations, marketing and entertainment.

Hard Rock and its investors spending about $500 million to completely renovate the property ahead of its planned opening.

Golden Nugget Casinos announced that members of its 24K Select Club loyalty program across its five casinos can now earn comp dollars and tier credits in one account and redeem comp dollars in any of its casinos.

The five casinos are Golden Nugget Atlantic City; Golden Nugget Biloxi in Biloxi, Mississippi; Golden Nugget Lake Charles in Lake Charles, Louisiana; the Golden Nugget Las Vegas; and Golden Nugget Laughlin in Laughlin, Nevada.

In addition to the casinos, comp dollars can be redeemed in more than 600 restaurants, including any brand that falls under casino company parent Landry’s umbrella throughout the country.

Landry’s owns and operates more than 40 brands, including Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Chart House, Morton’s The Steakhouse and Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse.

Members will be able to earn rewards and qualify for higher tiers more quickly. Tier credits accumulate in a centralized account. Each tier includes more access, benefits and rewards.

Members earn comp dollars and tier credits by playing slot machines or table games.

Members of the 24K Select Club can now download the Golden Nugget Mobile App to have 24/7 access to view their comp dollars, tier credits and tier level status, slot point balance and special offers across all Golden Nugget casinos and receive mobile-only bonuses.

People can become a 24K Select Club member at Golden Nugget locations or in the app.

Players of the PGA Tour are required to watch a 15-minute video that warns against betting on games or throwing games. It’s part of the circuit’s newly minted Integrity Program.

The video talks about the $1 trillion industry. It doesn’t have any examples of illegal gambling on the sport to offer, but it doesn’t want to take any chances.

Tour commissioner Jay Monahan discussed the rationale for the video with the Golf Channel a few weeks ago. “It’s important that in that world, you can operate not understanding what’s happening week in and week out, or you can assume that all of our players and everybody in our ecosystem understands that that’s not an acceptable activity, or you can just be proactive and clarify and educate.” He added, “That’s what we have attempted to do not with just the video, but with all of our communication with our players and will continue to do that.”

The purpose of the video is to prevent players from betting on professional golf, but it has an underlying theme as well, to prevent game fixing or divulging “inside information,” about players.

Monahan said the integrity program wasn’t created as a reaction to anything that has ever happened but simply because with such a huge industry. The video concentrates on explaining how players can avoid being placed in a situation that could lead to match fixing. Such as responding to a seemingly innocent question about the health of a partner or even how the player himself is feeling. Anything that might lead someone either to bet for or against the player.

Players are advised to be careful what they post on social med and to avoid anything that might be construed as referring to betting or odds.

Law permits several options for Penn in York County

Two weeks ago, Penn National Gaming won the first license for a Category 4 satellite or “mini-casino,” paying more than $50 million for the license in a move recognized as protecting its turf against competition from a new class of casino even as the operator sues to block the law provision creating the Category 4 facility.

Category 4 casinos, created under the massive gaming expansion package signed into law in November by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, are casinos limited to 750 slot machines and 30 table games. The first of 10 was auctioned by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board January 10, with the second auction slated for this week.

Penn centered its bid in Yoe, York County, the location of its subsidiary Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association—operator of its flagship Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course outside of Harrisburg. The way the law is written, satellite casinos may not be located within 25 miles of a current casino, but may be located anywhere within a 15-mile “buffer zone,” giving Penn a 30-mile radius surrounding Yoe in which to locate the new facility.

Penn’s lawsuit challenges both these provisions as creating unfair competition for its existing facilities, claiming the new facilities are going to siphon business from existing casinos, not the least of which is its own Hollywood Casino. However, according to a new analysis from consultancy GGH Morowitz, if planned correctly, the new mini-casinos could grow the market.

“GGH Morowitz has extensive experience, having analyzed most major existing and potential gaming markets across Pennsylvania, including bordering states,” said Cory Morowitz, GGH Morowitz co-managing partner. “Given the unique attributes of the new Cat 4, existing competition, location-specific considerations and applying a range of variables, as well as our proprietary models and algorithms, we have identified discrete ‘pockets’ of opportunity, areas more susceptible to cannibalization, and optimal levels of capital investment that directly impact the value of these licenses.”

GGH Morowitz’ analysis identified several points relating to the potential profitability of the new mini-casinos”

• New Cat 4 Licenses have potential to cannibalize existing markets, but will grow the overall Pennsylvania gaming market over time. “GGH Morowitz has identified as many as 15 key sub-markets (some of which overlap) where a Cat 4 license may be viable through both cannibalization and growth based upon availability, proximity and population drivers,” the study said.

• Overall profitability driven by a variety of factors, including location, specific branding/cap-ex and marketing and promotion strategies. “Overall profitability (i.e., yield) for these sub-markets will vary widely and not all will support substantial capital investment, so right-sizing of a project suitable for a specific sub-market/location, as well as employing targeted branding/marketing strategies, will be critical.”

• Potential yield and capital investment factors should directly drive auction prices. “Range of overall yield vis-à-vis total cost of entry (including facility acquisition/build-out and cap-ex) will drive auction value for each license.”

Michael Kim, GGH Morowitz managing partner, added, “Away from the leverage afforded existing incumbents through the current phased sealed-bid structure of the new Cat 4 auction process, similar to many casino license RFP/M&A opportunities with which we have been recently involved, bids are likely to be driven by a combination of pro forma multiples, strategic access or ‘defensive’ premium, and other location-specific competitive advantages available in each sub-market.

“While we have identified several potential sub-markets that could be compelling for a new Cat 4, as more direct access to population or prime locations moderates, bidders must be cautious for potential to face diminishing value and/or more marginal return on investment as the auctions progress.”

Meanwhile, officials and media in York County are examining the 30-mile radius created by Penn’s Category 4 license centered in Yoe, a small borough about 10 miles from the Maryland border in central Pennsylvania.

According to a report in the York Daily Record, leading contenders include municipalities such as Manchester Township and West York, where officials have said they are open to casino proposals.

Kevin Schreiber, president and CEO of the York County Economic Alliance who had pre-bid conversations with Penn National about possible locations in York County, told the newspaper he believes the local casino will likely end up close to the city of York, and not in the more rural southern end of the county near Maryland.

West Manchester Township is among the most likely destinations, he said, adding that the township is receptive to a proposal.

“We looked at it and didn’t see any detrimental impacts if sited appropriately,” Kelly Kelch, West Manchester township manager, told the newspaper,

West York Mayor Shawn Mauck also told the newspaper he would welcome a Category 4 casino, saying it would provide a “wonderful synergy” to what the city already offers. “We can’t miss an opportunity like this,” Mauck said.

Springettsbury Township, east of York, was one of more than 1,000 communities to opt out of the mini-casinos, which bans them under the new law. However, officials say they are open to reconsidering the decision, saying the short window between the law’s passage in November and the December 31 opt-out deadline was the main factor in opting out. The law permits any community to “opt back in” for a mini-casino by simply passing a new resolution.

Elsewhere in the state, community officials began anticipating the next auction, and reacting to the precedent set by Penn with its $50 million price tag when the minimum bid set by the law is $7.5 million, with an extra $2.5 million for table games.

“I was shocked,” Randy Seitz, president and CEO of Mercer County’s Penn-Northwest Development Corp., said of the Penn bid in an interview with the Sharon Herald. “We were guessing the first bid would be $10 million to $15 million.”

“We hope to have a casino here in Mercer County,” Peggy Mazyck, CEO of the Mercer County Visitors and Convention Bureau, told the Herald. “The tourism board feels it would help to become an all-season destination… What we’re doing is sending letters out to the casino owners, and saying all of the things we have that would be attractive, like our traffic counters on I-80 and I-79, and I-376 starts here in Mercer County and goes all the way to the airport.

“Something I hear almost every single day from businesses is the struggle to fill positions,” she said. “These are the kinds of amenities that, if done properly, can draw people to live here, pay taxes, and buy homes.”

The next auction is this Wednesday, January 24.

The new Four Winds Casino South Bend in Indiana, owned by the Dowagiac, Michigan-based Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, opened January 16 in a ceremony featuring tribal drumming, presentation of flags and a ribbon cutting. It’s the fourth Four Winds Casino—the other three are located in Michigan—and the first tribal casino in Indiana. Frank Freedman, chief operating officer at Four Winds Casinos, said, “This is an incredibly exciting time for all of us. This ribbon cutting signifies the work of hundreds of people over the course of the past 13 months. We’re proud to cut this ribbon today for the first tribal casino in the state of Indiana and the fourth Four Winds property.”

National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens, Jr. said, “I congratulate the Pokagon Band on this historic grand opening event. This event is more than celebrating the opening of the Four Winds South Bend Casino; it will be another great testament to the success of Indian gaming and all that it will bring to tribal communities.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs approved the Pokagon Band’s application to take into trust 166-acres of tribal land in South Bend in 2016. The decision restored the Pokagon Band’s ancestral homeland in Indiana.

Chairman John Warren said the tribe’s casinos help provide the 5,000-member tribe with health care, housing and education programs, and created 1,200 new jobs in South Bend.

The 175,000 square foot Four Winds South Bend offers 1,800 slot machines and electronic games, four restaurants, players lounge, coffee shop, three bars, retail outlet and 4,500 parking spaces including an enclosed parking structure. Live blackjack and roulette will not be offered since the tribe has not negotiated a compact with Indiana.

The state will not receive state taxes from the new Four Winds South Bend because it’s owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe that does not have a compact with the state of Indiana. But the tribe will pay 2 percent of its profits to the city of South Bend under a local agreement. The band also committed to paying $5 million over three years to community programs. The tribe has a compact with Michigan, allowing table games at Four Winds New Buffalo, Dowagiac and Hartford. But under the compact the tribe has to pay 8 percent of its slot revenues to Michigan.

In contrast, Indiana’s 13 state-regulated casinos, operated by private companies, paid 27 percent in state and local taxes on gambling profits in 2017. A study by Spectrum Gaming Group commissioned by the Indiana Casino Association, which represents 11 of Indiana’s 13 commercial casinos, indicated the tax differences gives the new tribal casino an “enormous marketing and pricing advantage, particularly in slot payout rates.”

When the Pokagon Band opened its first Four Winds casino just across the Indiana state line in New Buffalo, Michigan in 2007, that event significantly impacted Boyd Gaming’s Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, resulting in a loss of $50 million in revenue in the first year, which has since dropped from $267 million in 2007 to $159 million in 2017.

But David Strow, a vice president at Boyd Gaming, said, “We have seen several new casino properties open in this region over the last 10 years, and Blue Chip has continued to compete successfully each time over that timeframe.”

He added the company has features and amenities that distinguish it from Four Winds South Bend, including a hotel, spa and table games.

Meanwhile, gambling competition has increased in other neighboring states, resulting in a 20 percent drop in Indiana casino profits and the loss of 3,000 jobs since 2009, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission. Casino tax revenue of $442 million in 2017 was a decrease from $680 million in 2010, and it’s expected to fall to $388 million in 2019. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Tim Brown said, “I have told people we will just deal with the activity that we can estimate and that’s what we’ll plug into our formula. We’re not going to try and necessarily make it so that it can make up a certain percent of the budget.”

Tribal officials also expect Four Winds South Bend to draw customers away from two of its three Michigan casinos in New Buffalo, and Dowagiac. Freedman said ultimately that migration of customers will result in a net gain.

“You basically do feasibility studies, and understand what that migration might be,” said Freedman. “The net effect is plus, plus, plus. So some of our guests that currently frequent New Buffalo that live here, it will be natural to start coming here.”

Freedman also noted, “New Buffalo was built with table games and was built with an expectation, with a hotel, of a longer visit. In South Bend we’re going to market to an urban environment, more day trippers. So if a group’s coming in to see a Notre Dame game and want a party of 25 at the steakhouse, we can do it.”

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg pointed out, “You look at the growth in the growth and what’s happening economically, and there’s a lot of momentum in the city right now. But one thing that will be on the history books even 100 years from now is that the first time there was ever a federally recognized tribal land in the state of Indiana, it was right here in South Bend.”

Las Vegas’ New York-New York Hotel & Casino was robbed by an armed man in the early morning hours of January 10, the fourth casino on or near the Strip to be held up in the last two weeks.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said the thief showed up at a cash cage around 1 a.m., revealing a handgun in his waistband and demanding cash. He was wearing black-rimmed glasses and a ski cap, according to detailed video footage of the crime. He left through the valet parking area with an undisclosed amount of money, crossed a pedestrian bridge and climbed into a taxi. He was still at large, as of this writing.

Harrah’s, Ellis Island and SLS Las Vegas also were targeted over the same period. In two instances the robbers were armed. The SLS theft occurred when a man hopped over a counter and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

“It is a risk versus reward situation. (Casinos) have more cash than a bank,” retired Metro Lt. Randy Sutton said in an interview with Las Vegas-based KTNV.

MGM Resorts International, which owns New York-New York, was victimized in November by a gunman who robbed a cash cage in the poker room of Bellagio Hotel and Casino. He escaped in a Chevy Cruze with Nevada license plates. No arrest has been reported.

When Susan Hensel was a little girl her father would rush over to her and say “You are going to be on the TV someday,” and then he would lift her up, carry her over to their console television and set her on the top of it. Hensel’s father was apparently somewhat prophetic for following Hensel’s graduation from the University of Wisconsin she went into the broadcast news business for television station WISN TV, the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; she later moved to Central Pennsylvania where she was an on-air TV personality with WHP TV, the CBS affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the state’s capital.

During her stint at WHP TV Hensel decided that she wanted something with more upward mobility than being an on-air TV personality and she took a job as a deputy press secretary for the state of Pennsylvania, being quickly promoted to executive assistant to the head of the Department of Labor and Industry. To further satisfy her goal for advancement, she enrolled in Widener University Commonwealth Law School, located in the state’s capital. She kept her day job with the state and attended law school at night, and recalls that sleep during this period of her life was a true luxury. Four years after starting law school Hensel received her Juris Doctorate and passed the Pennsylvania Bar. She then moved into the office of Inspector General as an attorney and press secretary for the state of Pennsylvania.

In July 2004, the state of Pennsylvania passed its Gambling Act and by then Hensel was serving as an assistant general counsel in the Governor’s Office. She was then appointed special assistant of the Department of Revenue and became the first person in the state to work on gaming implementation before the creation of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Several months later she became the first employee of the nascent PGCB. That agency now numbers just under 300 employees, and Hensel serves as its director of licensing.

Many also know Hensel for her involvement in the International Association of Gaming Regulators where she served two terms as president and now serves as a trustee. Never one to sit still, Hensel has also published a number of articles on gaming and is often sought out to speak on gaming and its regulation at conferences and events around the world.

In 2017, Hensel decided she wanted to give something back to her law school, so she returned to Widener to see if she could teach a gaming law class. The school was most receptive and so she set out preparing for the task, and one of the first calls she made was to Anthony Cabot, of counsel, Lewis Roca Rothgerber & Christie. Hensel reports that Tony was most helpful and that he shared a great deal of advice on developing her syllabus and lectures. For her textbook, she used The Law of Gambling and Regulated Gaming, authored by Anthony Cabot and Keith Miller.

She was also able to secure the services of a number of guest lecturers including Dave Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement; Lloyd Levenson, an experienced private sector gaming attorney with Cooper Levenson; Elizabeth Lanza director of the Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling and Paul Mauro, director of the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, both from the PGCB; and Richard Schuetz, recently having stepped down as the executive director of the Bermuda Casino gaming Commission and a former gaming executive.

Hensel found that the class was a great deal more work than she had ever dreamed, but also that is was a great deal of fun. She especially liked the interaction with the law students, for as she states: “You can think you know a topic, but to stand before a group of law students and explain it, and then get questions, well, that is challenging. Teaching a class forces a person to think more deeply about issues, and it forces a person to really learn.”

The state of Pennsylvania is now going through one of the most significant expansions in the history of gaming in the U.S., and Hensel is looking forward to being involved and tapping into her broad network of contacts around the world as the state launches new gaming products. She is also hoping to continue working with Widener, for as Hensel says: “With the substantial expansion in gaming in Pennsylvania I want to help ensure that the state has a group of well-trained lawyers with a fluency in gaming. Widener game me the opportunity to learn the law and contribute to the state. I want to stay involved and help return that favor.”

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board held the second in a series of auctions last week to award licenses for so-called “mini-casinos,” the satellite casinos limited to 750 slots and 30 table games, and the winner of the second of 10 licenses is a familiar name—Stadium Casino, the partnership between Baltimore-based Cordish Companies and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment, parent of the Parx Casino at Philadelphia Park in Bensalem.

Stadium won the license to operate a mini-casino in Derry Township, Westmorland County, around 35 miles from Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania, with a bid of $40.1 million. The high bid follows one of more than $50 million that won Penn National Gaming the first mini-casino. Minimum bids under the gaming expansion law are set at $7.5 million. The win reserves a 15-mile radius around Derry Township, which includes the town of Greensburg.

As Penn did two weeks ago, Stadium is expected to pay the extra $2.5 million fee for the right to offer table games.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Travis Lamb, chief financial officer of Cordish Global Gaming, said the new casino will be located near Greensburg, because of its proximity to Pittsburgh (around a 40-minute drive) and growing housing stock. “We feel there’s demand in that region, unsatisfied demand at this point, so we can have a profitable casino there,” Lamb said.

Auctions for the 10 mini-casinos will occur every two weeks until May 16. Current land-based casino licensees have first dibs, but if licenses are still available after the last auction, the law permits the gaming board to accept bids from out-of-state casino operators.

According to a report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, as many as 18 states could also introduce bills to regulate sports betting this year.

Reports are that Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel is going to be sold to an investment group that includes British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Hotels.

Sources told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Brookfield Asset Management, the off-Strip resort’s majority owner, is in “advanced negotiations” with lead buyers Richard “Boz” Bosworth, founder and head of Las Vegas-based Bosworth Hospitality Partners, and Juniper Capital Partners, based in Los Angeles, and that the deal calls for the Hard Rock to become a Virgin-branded property operated by Virgin.

No sale price has been disclosed, according to the newspaper, which cited sources as saying the buyers are looking to conclude an agreement in the first quarter.

In the meantime, sources told the Review-Journal that management has been directed not to deny Virgin’s interest in the hotel and that executives have reviewed logo designs featuring the Virgin brand.

The R-J contacted a Virgin spokeswoman, who declined to comment, as did representatives of Bosworth. Juniper could not be reached as of press time, the newspaper said.

Gambling issues held over from last year are moving forward in the Florida Senate, including allowing racetracks to decouple live races from other forms of gambling and lowering the tax rate on slots.

In the House, which typically has opposed expanded gambling, Speaker Richard Corcoran said comprehensive gambling legislation “is somewhere between a 1 percent and 99 percent certainty. But I don’t want to tell people 1 percent because then they won’t be vigilant. Dams could break and all of a sudden everybody’s on the same page. But it’s one of the hardest things we try to accomplish. We’ve had less than 1 percent success the seven years I’ve been here.”

The House Tourism and Gaming Control Subcommittee unanimously approved state Rep. Jason Brodeur’s HB 223 which would exempt fantasy sports from state gambling regulation. Brodeur said DFS is similar to a fishing tournament or a dog show, meaning skill is required to win.

suggesting one needs talent to win. An estimated 3 million Floridians said they play some sort of fantasy sports.

However, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has told lawmakers if fantasy sports bills pass, that would violate the Seminole Compact, guaranteeing the tribe exclusive rights to blackjack in return for more than $200 million annually. The tribe has said it would end the payments.

State Senator Dana also filed a fantasy sports bill, SB 374.

Last year an omnibus gambling bill failed because the two chambers “were too far apart,” said then-House negotiator state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz. The House disagreed with the Senate’s proposal to expand slot machines to parimutuels in counties that had approved them in local referendums.

Recently, a citizen initiative to put a constitutional amendment on the 2018 ballot mandating voter approval of any new gambling recently gathered enough signatures to be placed on the November ballot.

Corcoran noted, “We would love to have a long-standing, 20 or 30 years certainty of what gaming looks like for Florida,. At the same time, we would like to see a contraction” of gambling, given our make-up as a family-values state. Those conversations are constantly going on. Last year, we got to a point where we were in conference and got very close. Is it possible we could get back to a conference posture and get closer? Yes. And all of the other things going on, the constitutional amendment, could give us additional leverage.”

Delaware state senators have introduced a bipartisan bill in what is the third attempt in three years to secure state help in the form of tax and fee breaks for the state’s three struggling racinos.

Delaware’s three racinos—Delaware Park, Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway—have seen profits dip as new competition multiplied in neighboring states, particularly Maryland. The gaming operators, led by Dover Downs Casino President and CEO Ed Sutor, have pleaded for breaks in gaming revenue taxes and fees that have led to consecutive profit losses.

Senate Bill 144 would change the tax structure, slash the table game tax rate in half and eliminate the annual table game license fee. Currently, 43.5 percent of all casino revenue (not counting money returned to players and paid to vendors) goes to the state. The lead sponsor is Senator Brian Bushweller, a Dover Democrat, and the bill lists 13 Democratic sponsors and seven Republican backers, split between the state’s three counties roughly evenly.

The bill would create a bracket structure resembling what was set up when lawmakers first approved slots gambling in 1994: Daily revenue of no more than $75,000 would be taxed at 32 percent, revenue greater than $75,000 and less than $150,001 would be taxed at 35 percent, revenue between $150,000 and $225,001 would be taxed at 37.5 percent and revenue of more than $225,000 would be taxed at 43.5 percent.

In addition, the table game tax rate of 29.4 percent would be cut to 15 percent and the $13.25 million table game license shared between the state’s three casinos would be disposed of.

Bushweller told the Delaware State News the measure carries an estimated cost of $21 million to the state government, but would even the playing field for racino operators. “The casino industry pays all the same taxes as any other business in Delaware,” Bushweller said. “You pick a tax and they’re paying it … but in addition to it, through the first three quarters of 2017, Dover Downs paid $56 million between the horse racing industry and the state.”

He added that the casinos have suffered as profits sunk and taxes rose. “Since the slots were instituted in the 1990s in Delaware, the state has persistently and routinely increased its take from the overall … slot machine revenue to a point where they’re no longer able to function like a normal business,” Bushweller said.

Bushweller said that while the past two attempts to help casinos lost to critics in the legislature calling it a “bailout” for the industry, a stronger state financial picture this year increases the chance the bill will pass.

“I will say that it’s been clear to me over the past two or three years, an increasing number of members of the General Assembly have come to understand the issue and I think want to try to do something about it,” Bushweller told the newspaper. “Whether we can do something depends on a lot of other factors.”

Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, the parent company of the racino and Delaware’s only publicly traded casino, told the State News the facility lost $289,000 through the first nine months of 2017, and blamed the state’s 47 percent cut of profits. “This isn’t what free enterprise is supposed to be about,” he said.

The bill has been placed in the Senate Banking, Business & Insurance Committee.

The $960 million MGM Springfield is sprinting towards its planned September opening by putting out the call for table game dealers. It expects to hire about 450 dealers begin this summer—and a total of 3,000 for its casino operations alone.

In conjunction with the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute MGM is providing details on the career opportunities available, including where and how to enroll in classes in poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games. The Institute is the result of a partnership between the casino and Springfield Technical Community College and Holyoke Community College. MGM promises automatic interviews with any students who complete two table-game courses.

When it opens this fall, the casino will have 125,000 square feet of gaming floor space and a 250-room hotel, with a six-screen cinema, bowling alley, skating rink and outdoor marketplace all on the property.

The casino developer is also working to provide positions for the large numbers of residents of Puerto Rico who fled to the state after Hurricane Maria devastated the island last September. About 1,000 evacuees are now living in the Bay State.

MGM spokesman Saverio Mancini told the Republican, “MGM is dedicated to supporting the communities we serve. We stand ready to help the people of Springfield whose families and friends were impacted by the unfortunate situation in Puerto Rico.”

Last week Jill Griffin, MGM’s director of workforce, supplier, and diversity development updated the Massachusetts Gaming Commission about the company’s efforts to help the island refugees get jobs. The island has 15 casinos, so former residents are likely to be familiar with the gaming industry.

Mancini said, “Puerto Rico has a robust gaming and hospitality industry and we are interested in assisting and connecting with people newly settled in the area who may have casino or resort work experience.” He added, “These are ideal candidates for a career with MGM Springfield.” MGM conducted an event last week that was designed to introduce the evacuees to MGM and its job opportunities.

MGM is committed to hiring 35 percent of its employees from Springfield and to pursue various diversity goals in hiring and contracting.

Problem Gambling

The commission voted last week to work with MGM Springfield and Wynn to create voluntary opt-in programs that would allow but not force casino customers to self-limit themselves to a maximum budget and to be notified when they are near those limits.

This allows the programs to be in place by the time the MGM Springfield opens later this fall and the Wynn Boston Harbor opens in 2019.

The panel voted to work with companies to voluntarily implement the programs rather than adopting regulations that would force them to do it.

Mass Live quoted Chairman Stephen Crosby: “We are very, very committed to innovative and aggressive promotion of responsible gaming and attention to problem gambling. It’s really a high priority and, I think, innovative.”

He said the casino companies asked for this approach, saying that they wanted to be treated as “good corporate citizens, not like the casinos of Bugsy Siegel.” Siegel was the 1940’s gangster credited with launching Las Vegas as a gaming mecca.

MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis commented, “MGM Springfield is ready and willing to collaborate with the MGC on instituting a play management system that will not only serve the gaming customers of Massachusetts but that will also serve as a template for operators in other jurisdictions.”

Plainridge Park Casino, the only casino currently operating in the Bay State, already operates the play management system PlayMyWay which was launched in June 2016. The system is linked with Penn National Gaming’s customer reward system. Under this system patrons get reminders as they pass the 50 percent and 75 percent marks on their self-limiting budgets. Customers can ignore these warnings and their limits if they choose.

Crosby praised the collaboration with the two casino companies as being more “nimble and flexible,” compared to a clumsy regulatory framework.